The thermoelectric effect is well known. It involves converting a temperature difference into an electric voltage, or vice versa. When a thermoelectric device has two sides at different temperatures (i.e., a hot side and a cold side), the device creates a voltage.
Many machines, devices, and other objects generate a great deal of heat that is never recycled in any way, but rather is lost as waste heat. As just one example, solar cells use some of the radiation that strikes them, but waste a great deal of energy in the form of heat. It has therefore previously been suggested that increased efficiency may be obtained by providing a combined solar cell/thermoelectric device. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,588 (Hughes Aircraft Company), which focuses on a combined solar cell/thermoelectric device for aerospace applications.
It would be desirable to provide improved thermoelectric devices that provide a practical option for use with solar cells and other devices, machines, or objects that generate, emit, and/or possess heat.